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Journal Article
© Jun 2009 Volume 7 Issue 2, ICICKM 2008, Editor: Kevin O'Sullivan, pp199 - 296
Look inside Download PDF (free)
Information is becoming the engine, resource, and commodity that drives the economy and social institutions, as well as our personal and professional lives. Because we are living in a unique period of human history, we may not appreciate the scope, speed, and impact of Information Age change. Framing six characteristics of the Information Age, this paper suggests resulting imperatives for leaders who must create and lead Information Age organizations. They must leverage human and other resources, and solve today's complex and wicked problems to achieve organizational and cross‑boundary goals. Global engagement, no longer limited by time or space, is enabled by worldwide information communication and technology networks that are instant, non‑hierarchical, and dynamic. Smaller devices, tagging, and the integration of media and sources foster communication, collaboration, and innovation, along with new expectations for ourselves and others to be "always on" and responsive. In this dense information environment leaders face the danger of heightened decision uncertainty in a sea of meaningless, fragmented but apparently inter‑connected data. Increasingly complex, chaotic, fragmented, interdependent wicked problems require new cross‑boundary perspectives and deeper understanding. In the Information Age solo action focused on control of resources is giving way for former competitors to create win‑win partnerships. Dynamic human networks are replacing, complementing, and competing with hierarchical organizations as powerful systems for communicating, sharing, and organizing. The authors, faculty members at a U.S. Government graduate institution, explore the essential elements of the Information Age and their imperatives for leaders, especially government leaders, who can create and lead organizations in this new environment.
Keywords: Information age, leadership, wicked problems, human networks, globalization, technology
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Print Censor Professional 5.60
Control your printer use and prevent excessive printer usage.
Print Censor Professional allows easily viewing, controlling and restricting printer usage on the LAN, helping you save hundreds of dollars in printer refills by getting rid of duplicate, restricted and unauthorized print jobs. The printer usage monitor can be controlled easily from any workstation on the LAN. Set group and user restrictions on printer usage, assign and modify printing quotas, pause or stop new print jobs, etc.
Get control of your printing costs! Print Censor Professional offers highly adjustable printing cost adjustments based on media type and size, type and name of each printer on your LAN. You can put on hold or moderate new print jobs before they go through, which leads to considerable savings in case of large printing jobs and expensive cartridges and media. Savings are easy when you control printer usage with Print Censor Professional.
Control how many jobs or sheets each user or group of users on your LAN can print. Quotas and restrictions are easy to set and to lift without leaving a chair: Print Censor Professional allows controlling printer usage from any network workstation on your LAN. View who printed what, when, and on which printer with Print Censor Professional advanced printer usage monitor combined with a comprehensive log analyzer.
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Print Censor Professional is not just a monitor taking care of your printer usage. It can communicate to the users by informing them if their printing job is under review, has been allowed, rejected or finished.

subset: commoncrawl


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Imagine for a moment, an uncontrolled spender whose credit limit has just been suspended. That means this self-destructive spendthrift can continue their spending spree without any accountability. Imagine no more, because that out-of-control spender is the U.S. government.
It's been less than a month since Congress reached a temporary deal to suspend the U.S. government's debt ceiling, and the Treasury Department has already wasted no time by amassing another $389 billion in new debt.
This time around, suspension of the U.S. debt limit, which was previously fixed at $16.69 trillion, means the Treasury Department can effectively spend whatever amount of money it needs or wants.
How much debt can the U.S. government rack up by the next debt ceiling deadline on Feb. 7? At the current spending pace of $129.6 billion per week, U.S. public debt would top $18.77 trillion by early February.
What about the argument that this $395 billion in new debt was simply a payback from the accounting wizardry (or as Jack Lew called it "extraordinary measures") the U.S. Treasury used over the past several months to avoid exceeding the previous debt limit?
Factually, these "extraordinary measures" are tantamount to accounting shenanigans and nothing more. Any corporation or corporate executive that attempted to use the U.S. Treasury's same accounting methods would be charged with fraud.
Lamentably, the U.S. government's accounting games are no longer a secret.
"When you are the largest economy in the world, when you are the safe haven in all circumstances, as has been the case, you can't go into that creative accounting business," said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press."
For now, the bond market is ignoring the U.S. debt conundrum.
After reaching a yearly high of 2.97%, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries has since fallen by around 13%. In other words, the bond market is expressing the view that the fiscal realities of the U.S. government's rising debt load simply don't matter. And over the past two months, that's kept Treasury bulls celebrating.
ETFs that benefit from lower yields and higher Treasury bond prices like the ProShares Ultra 20+ Yr. Treasury ETF (UBT) and the Direxion Daily 20+ Yr. Treasury Bull 3x Shares (TMF) have gained 6% to 9% since early September.
Treasury bonds with long-term maturities (TLT) like those tracked by UBT and TMF are most sensitive to changes in interest rates compared with Treasuries (SHY) with maturities of less than 10 years.
The ETF Advisor Pro uses a combination of market sentiment, fundamental/technical analysis, history, and common sense to be on the right side of the market. Since the beginning of the year, 74% of our time-stamped ETF picks have turned a profit (through 9/30/13). Follow us on Twitter @ ETFguide.


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The CXB set of RI strains is used in the genetic analysis of numerous complex or potentially complex physiologic phenotypes including differences in thyroid function (Graves' disease) and pulmonary inflammation as well as behavioral phenotypes including avoidance, exploration and locomotor activity. The CXB set is derived from the BALBc/ByJ (Stock No. 001026) and C57BL/6ByJ (Stock No. 001139) progenitor strains.Read More +
|Genetic Background
|Allele Type
|Gene Symbol
|Gene Name
|Not Applicable
|aryl-hydrocarbon receptor
|Allele Type
|Gene Symbol
|Gene Name
|hippocampal lamination defect
The CXB set of RI strains is used in the genetic analysis of numerous complex or potentially complex physiologic phenotypes including differences in thyroid function (Graves' disease), contact dermatitis, and pulmonary inflammation as well as behavioral phenotypes including avoidance, exploration and locomotor activity.
The strain distribution pattern (SDP) for the CXB RI strains is available through the Mouse Genome Informatics
Contributed Data Sets and Gene Network.
Additional tools and information are presented through the Mouse Phenome Database
Specialized Strain Panel Query Form, and
Gene Network.
The CXB set is so small that markers on different chromosomes occasionally have almost precisely the same SDP. This produces high non-syntenic association and false linkage between variance in phenotypes and genotypes. Please examine the correlation coefficients of markers close to interest loci with ALL other markers to evaluate the risk of non-syntenic association.
Like BALB/cByJ, this recombinant inbred carries the mutation hippocampal lamination defect or Hld, an allele responsible for abnormal neuronal migration to the pyramidal cell layer (Nowakowski RS, et al, Jnl Neurogen, 1984).
The original 11 CXB recombinant inbred (RI) lines were generated at the National Institutes of Health by Dr. Donald Bailey (labcode By) starting in 1959. After moving to The Jackson Laboratory in 1967, an additional set of 6 strains was created with the help of Jo Hilgers (Labcode Hi). The CXB set is derived from the BALBc/ByJ (Stock No. 001026) and C57BL/6ByJ (Stock No. 001139) progenitor strains. CXB1 through CXB7 originally were designated using letters. Several of the original strains are extinct. The Jackson Laboratory currently distributes 7 of the original By strains and 6 of the Hi strains.
|Allele Name
|b-1 variant
|Allele Type
|Not Applicable
|Allele Synonym(s)
|Ah; Ahb; Ahb-1; Ahhi; Ahrb; In
|Gene Symbol and Name
|Ahr, aryl-hydrocarbon receptor
|Gene Synonym(s)
|Strain of Origin
|General Note
|C57BL/6 carries the responsive Ahrb allele; DBA/2 carries nonresponsive Ahrd. Heterozygotes (Ahrb/Ahrd) are responsive (J:5282). Later work identified a second (J:8895) and later a third (J:22144) allele conferring response. Thus the allele in C57, C58, and MA/My strains is now Ahrb-1; Ahrb-2 is carried by BALB/cBy, A, and C3H; and Ahrb-3 by Mus spretus, M. caroli, and MOLF/Ei. The nonresponsive strains AKR, DBA/2, and 129 carry Ahrd (J:22144). Nucleotide and amino acid sequence differences between Ahrb-1 and Ahrd have been determined (J:17460).
Strain of origin - this allele was found in C57BL/6, C58/J, C57BR, MA/My strains
|Molecular Note
|This allele encodes a high affinity, relatively heat stabile, 95 kDa receptor. PCR sequencing of cDNA revealed ten nucleotide differences between the coding sequences of the DBA/2J and C57BL/6J receptors. Five of the ten differences would cause amino acid changes. One of these, a C to T transition in exon 11 would change the arginine codon in the DBA/2J allele to an opal termination codon in the C57BL/6J allele. This change would prevent the 43 amino acid extension of mRNA translation predicted for the DBA/2J allele and account for the smaller size of the peptide produced by this allele (95 kDa vs 104 kDa for the DBA/2J allele). A second C to T transition changes a proline codon in the DBA/2J allele to leucine codon in the C57BL/6J allele, and would likely change secondary structure of the peptide and thus ligand affinity.
When using the CXB1/ByJ mouse strain in a publication, please cite the originating article(s) and include JAX stock #000351 in your Materials and Methods section.
|Inbred, 1 pair minimum will be supplied
"MICE" means mouse strains, their progeny derived by inbreeding or crossbreeding, unmodified derivatives from mouse strains or their progeny supplied by The Jackson Laboratory ("JACKSON"). "PRODUCT(S)" means biological materials supplied by JACKSON, and their derivatives. "SERVICES" means projects conducted by JACKSON for other parties that may include but are not limited to the use of MICE or PRODUCTS. "RECIPIENT" means each recipient of MICE, PRODUCTS, or SERVICES provided by JACKSON including each institution, its employees and other researchers under its control. MICE or PRODUCTS shall not be: (i) used for any purpose other than internal research, (ii) sold or otherwise provided to any third party for any use, or (iii) provided to any agent or other third party to provide breeding or other services. Acceptance of MICE, PRODUCTS or SERVICES from JACKSON shall be deemed as agreement by RECIPIENT to these conditions, and departure from these conditions requires JACKSON's prior written authorization.
In case of dissatisfaction for a valid reason and claimed in writing by a purchaser within ninety (90) days of receipt of, PRODUCTS or SERVICES, JACKSON will, at its option, provide credit or replacement for the PRODUCT received or the SERVICES provided; JACKSON makes no other representations and this shall be the exclusive remedy of the purchaser. Please note specific policy for live mice.
Consistent with the requirement for a written understanding regarding animal care and use, the JACKSON Animal Care and Use Committee will review the animal care and use protocol(s) associated with any SERVICES to be performed at JACKSON, and JACKSON shall have ultimate responsibility and authority for the care of animals while on site or in JACKSON custody.
In no event shall JACKSON, its trustees, directors, officers, employees, and affiliates be liable for any causes of action or damages, including any direct, indirect, special, or consequential damages, arising out of the provision of MICE, PRODUCTS, or SERVICES, including economic damage or injury to property and lost profits, and including any damage arising from acts or negligence on the part of JACKSON, its agents or employees. Unless prohibited by law, in purchasing or receiving MICE, PRODUCTS, or SERVICES from JACKSON, purchaser or recipient, or any party claiming by or through them, expressly releases and discharges JACKSON from all such causes of action or damages, and further agrees to defend and indemnify JACKSON from any costs or damages arising out of any third party claims.
MICE, PRODUCTS or SERVICES are to be used in a safe manner and in accordance with all applicable governmental rules and regulations.
The foregoing represents the General Terms and Conditions applicable to JACKSON's MICE, PRODUCTS or SERVICES. In addition, special terms and conditions of sale of certain MICE, PRODUCTS, or SERVICES may be set forth separately in JACKSON web pages, catalogs, price lists, contracts, and/or other documents, and these special terms and conditions shall also govern the sale of these MICE, PRODUCTS and SERVICES by JACKSON, and by its licensees and distributors.
Acceptance of delivery of MICE, PRODUCTS or SERVICES shall be deemed agreement to these terms and conditions. No purchase order or other document transmitted by purchaser or recipient that may modify the terms and conditions hereof, shall be in any way binding on JACKSON, and instead the terms and conditions set forth herein, including any special terms and conditions set forth separately, shall govern the sale of MICE, PRODUCTS or SERVICES by JACKSON.


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Pack 10's
Home Page
Cub Scout Pack 10
(Sherborn, Massachusetts)
Contact Our Pack
Member Login
Sherborn Cub Scouts - Pack 10
Registration Event
BBQ and Kickball
All new scouts are welcome to come learn about scouting in Sherborn.
Sunday, September 25th, 2016 at 3:30pm at Jameson Field 1, Sherborn.
Questions? Contact email@example.com
Interested in Cub Scouting for your son?!?
No prior cub scouting experience is necessary. The Pack Committee has a fun program planned for the 2016-17 year.
If you have any questions about joining Cub Scouts or need additional information, please contact Melinda O'Neill by email at
Executive Pack Committee Update
The Pack Committee has been working hard this summer to organize the Pack program for the upcoming year. Parent volunteers are encouraged to join in the fun and may even want to participate by serving on the Pack committee or a Den Leader in the future. Moms and Dads are welcome.
Den leaders try to plan about one event per month in addition to the Pack meetings and other events throughout the year.
RANKS and GRADES
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The Swedish architects and designers Claesson Koivisto Rune recently completed their newest architectural project, a single family home, situated on a beautiful lake near Stockholm. The ostensibly simple construction is characterised by – according to the sloped lot – slightly curved foundation and roof lines.
Here the project discription of the architects:
"Only ten minutes from Stockholm centre lies this piece of surprisingly un-touched natural landscape hidden. The lot is directly on the Drevviken lake with its own little cove. The crescent of the cove follows the slightly bowl-shaped land that also gave the shape of the house. The house is itself a kind of up-turned crescent with foundation and roof lines in parallel curves. With three different floor levels inside, the land could be left un-touched for the building. So the sculptural quality of the house follows the nature of the site rather than being a gesture."
"The house is fairly closed towards the street creating a kind of bulkhead between private and public, for both the house and the entire lot.
The direction is broadside toward the lake and the view. The entrance is mid-ship from the street behind, via the central terrace. To the one side from here is the main house, and to the other is the guest wing with home office and garage. From the central dining and kitchen area, as well as from the home office and bedrooms at either ends of the house, the windows are individually angled toward their best views of the lake."


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Netflix and The Walt Disney Studios Announce Multi-Year Premium Pay TV Window Agreement in the United States
Netflix Members to Enjoy Watching High Quality Films from Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Disneynature
Dec 4, 2012
BEVERLY HILLS and BURBANK, Calif., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX) and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) today announced a new multi-year licensing agreement that will make Netflix the exclusive U.S. subscription television service for first-run live-action and animated feature films from The Walt Disney Studios.
Beginning with its 2016 theatrically released feature films, new Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Disneynature titles will be made available for Netflix members to watch instantly in the pay TV window on multiple platforms, including television, tablets, computers and mobile phones. Also included in the agreement are high-profile Disney direct-to-video new releases, which will be made available on Netflix starting in 2013.
Separately, Disney and Netflix have reached agreement on a multi-year catalog deal that today brings to U.S. Netflix members such beloved Disney movies such as "Dumbo," "Pocahontas" and "Alice in Wonderland."
"Disney and Netflix have shared a long and mutually beneficial relationship and this deal will bring to our subscribers, in the first pay TV window, some of the highest-quality, most imaginative family films being made today," said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix. "It's a bold leap forward for Internet television and we are incredibly pleased and proud this iconic family brand is teaming with Netflix to make it happen."
"With this cutting-edge agreement, we are thrilled to take our highly valued relationship with Netflix to the next level by adding Disney's premier films to their programming line-up," said Janice Marinelli, President, Disney-ABC Domestic Television. "Netflix continues to meet the demands of its subscribers in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, and we are delighted that they will have much earlier access to our top-quality and entertaining slate," she continued.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Netflix
Netflix is the world's leading Internet television network with more than 30 million members in 40 countries enjoying more than one billion hours of TV shows and movies per month, including original series. For one low monthly price, Netflix members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Learn more about how Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is pioneering Internet television at http://www.netflix.com or follow Netflix on Facebook and Twitter.
About The Walt Disney Studios
For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under the following banners: Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios; Disneynature; Marvel Studios; and Touchstone Pictures, the banner under which live-action films from DreamWorks Studios are distributed. The Disney Music Group encompasses the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, as well as Disney Music Publishing. The Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Disney on Broadway, Disney On Ice and Disney Live!.
SOURCE Netflix Inc.


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"Change begins with you." That's the message USA Network hopes to get across in its new Characters Unite PSA.
For the second year in a row, USA is airing the one-hour documentary NFL Characters Unite as part of the network's Characters Unite campaign to fight prejudice and discrimination. This year's special will feature Larry Fitgerald, Jameel McClain, Troy Palamalu and Justin Tuck, as they share their own stories of overcoming diversity and bullying. The PSA below will run during the broadcast.
NFL Characters Unite airs Friday at 7/6c on USA.


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2011 Group 1 Project
- 1 Synaptic Junction
- 1.1 Introduction
- 1.2 History
- 1.3 What is a Synaptic Junction
- 1.4 Types of Synaptic Junctions
- 1.5 Synaptic Integration and Modulation
- 1.6 Neurotransmitters
- 1.7 Diseases Associated with Synaptic Junctions Dysfunctions
- 1.8 Current and Future Research and Developments
- 1.9 Gallery
- 1.10 Glossary
- 1.11 References
Synaptic Junction
To understand what a synaptic junction is and what its purpose is within the human body, a brief understanding of the Nervous System must be acquired. The nervous system controls the actions of the body while also transmitting information to different parts of it, and consists of the central and peripheral nervous systems. The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system (CNS) while nerves and ganglia which span out from the spinal cord to limbs and organs make up the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). Information including sensory stimuli, motor control and involuntary activity are all communicated throughout the body by the nervous system. Neurons are a specialised cell which form the network of nerves, spinal cord and brain and will be explained in detail, how they play a key role in electrical signalling, later on. Electrical signals that carry information throughout the body are transmitted through the nervous system by the communication of these neurons, the Synaptic Junction is where neurons transmit this electrical current to one another. Without Synaptic junctions, information and signals cannot be transmitted to areas of the body, its structure, mechanics dysfunctions and current related topics will now be explored in detail.
• 1897- Term synapse introduced at turn of the century by Charles Sherrington to describe the zone of contact between neurons.
• 1900- Notion of a receptor introduced by German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich, he wrote "Chemical Substances are only able to exercise an action on the tissue elements with which they are able to establish a chemical relationship".
• 1906- English pharmacologist John Langley postulated sensitivity of skeletal muscle to curare and nicotine was caused by a "receptive molecule."
• 1920s- Otto Lowei shows that ACh, a chemical compound, conveys signals from the vagus nerve to the heart
• 1930s- This discovery led to a debate over how chemical signals could generate electrical activity at other synapses. One side argued that all synaptic transmission is electrical; the action potential in the pre synaptic neuron generates the potential that flows passively into the post synaptic cell. The other that transmission is chemical, initiating the current flow in the post synaptic neuron.
• 1939- Discovery that action potential in the presynaptic fibre does not lead to direct initiation of action potential in the post synaptic fibre
• 1950s John Eccles and colleagues experiment on synaptic mechanisms if the spinal motor neuron, giving insight into synapses in the CNS mediated by ionotropic receptors.
• 1958- Furshpan and Potter first demonstrated electrical synaptic transmission to occur at the giant motor synapse of crayfish. First example of a real electrical synapse.
• 1963- Krnjevic and Phyllis release a paper titled "Iontophoretic studies of neurons in the cerebral cortex." This is the first demonstration of glutamate and GABA as neurotransmitters in the CNS
• 1970s- freeze-fracture techniques applied by Thomas Reese and John Hueser, discovering properties of transmitter release.
• 1976- First successful recordings of single ACh gated channels by Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann showing that channels open and close in a step like manner, generating very small rectangular steps of ionic current.
• 1981- Watkins provides evidence for three different types of ionotropic glutamate receptors
What is a Synaptic Junction
By definition, synapse is a site between to nerve cells, and junction means; to join. Thus the term synaptic junction describes the region of contact between two neurons where impulses is transmitted from one to another. This communication normally occurs between presynaptic side ( axon terminal of the transmitting neuron ) and postsynaptic side (receiving neuron, muscle or gland). The nerve impulses are conveyed through the action of what is called neurotransmitters including; Acetylcholine (ACh), Norepinephrine (NE), Dopamine (DA), Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). These neurotransmitters are stored and carried by membrane bound organelles called synaptic vesicles. The number of the vesicles varies and depends on whether the synapse is active or not. Moreover, the size is actually dependent upon the neurotransmitter type; fast-acting with 50nm diameter with clear centers, whereas, slow-acting with more than 100nm in diameter with dense core under the electron microscope. [1]
The components of a synapse are demonstrated through the schematic sketch. These include;
1) Synaptic bulb axon terminal:
2) Synaptic Vesicle:
3) Neurotransmitter molecules:
4) Synaptic cleft:
5) Postsynaptic membrane:
6) Receptor site:
7) Neurotransmitter binding site:
Types of Synaptic Junctions
Cell to cell communication occurs through a variety of synapses. The most significant synapses are classified under either electrical or chemical synapses.
1)Electrical Synapses
Electrical synapses; or what is known as bridging junctions are defined as electrical and mechanical conductive links that correspond to the narrow gap (gap junction) between the pre and post synaptic neurons of soma (neuron cell bodies). Protein channels are found to be connecting both pre and post synaptic cytoplasmic membranes. As a result, a low resistant electrical pathway is generated between the adjacent neurons, permitting a current flow passively from one neuron to the next. Neurons that are joined this way are referred to as electrically coupled. Moreover, electrical synapses conduct impulses very rapidly due to the short distance gap(3.5nm). Therefore, they are found in regions that depend on fast responses such as reflexes from the brain (jerky movements of the eye). Another key feature of these synapses is the synchronizing activity between the connected neurons. Finally, electrical synapses are usually bidirectional; allows transmission of ions in either direction. Nonetheless, some of these synapses can be unidirectional. [4] [5] [6]
2)Chemical Synapses
On the contrary, Chemical synapses are known as specialized junctions by which chemical neurotransmitter are released and received. A single chemical synapse has two significant parts; axon terminal and receptive region. The key feature in the first part is membrane bound organelles, referred to as synaptic vesicles. These vesicles store and carry the chemical neurotransmitter molecules. Next, the molecules are secreted by exocytosis from the presynaptic part through the synaptic cleft , which is fluid filled region. The neurotransmitters bind to the receptors located on the postsynaptic membrane. Consequently, postsynaptic channels are opened or closed, resulting in a change in the ions ability to flow in or out of the postsynaptic region. The flow of ions in chemical synapses is merely unidirectional. Furthermore, due to the distance difference between the pre and postsynaptic membranes (20-40nm), transmission of impulses is slower than electrical synapses. Finally, the transmission of signals across these synapses requires the secretion of neurotransmitters and binding to the receptors to generate a synaptic current and membrane potential. [7] [8]
It should be noted that there are other synapses. These include;
Axo-axonic synapse: connects between axon terminal and another.
axodendritic synapse: connects between axon terminal and dendrites
axosomatic synapse: connects between axon terminal and cell body
dendrodendritic synapse: connects between dendrite and another dendrite
Summary of electrical and chemical synapses:
|Types of synapses
|Distance between pre and postsynptic cell membrane
|intercellular continuity between pre and postsynaptic cells
|Key features
|agents of transmission
|Direction of transmission
|Gap junction channels
|Ion current
|mostly bidirectional
|Fast responses regions(brain), i.e. reflexes.
|Presynaptic vesicles and; synaptic cleft
|Chemical transmitter(neurotransmitter)
|Muscles, glands, neurons.
Synaptic Integration and Modulation
To understand the synaptic junction's role in neural modulation and integration, it is important to understand why these functions exist. As stated previously, the nervous system contains a network of many interlinking neurons, allowing communication between the brain and spinal cord and the rest of the body[9]. However, the human body does not need all nerve cells to be innervated at one time. It must coordinate the firing of all the nerves so that people can function normally. Included in this is the actions and processing performed subconsciously. For example, we do not focus on contracting our hamstrings then allowing them to be extended while we are walking. Instead, our nervous system allows these movements to occur subconsciously. This coordination occurs through integration and modulation. Modulation occurs at the synaptic junction, where pre synaptic inhibition allows for greater control[10].
The interlinking pathways between neurons lead converging and diverging organisations. Convergence describes many neurons synapsing onto a single post synaptic neuron, whereas divergence is when a neuron itself synapses onto multiple neurons. Almost all neurons receive convergent input, which allows for flexible control[12].
The Action Potential and Summation
In chemical synaptic junctions, the action potential arriving at the pre synaptic terminal is responsible for the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft, allowing excitation to continue to the post synaptic cell[13] .
Briefly, the action potential is a rapid depolarization that travels down the axon of a neuron. This is due to several channel types which are voltage dependent. It is an all-or-nothing event, where a certain threshold must be reached before the action potential is produced and fired from the axon hillock. The action potential is always the same size once activated, and travels down collateral branches of the axons as well, to the pre synaptic terminal of many synaptic junctions[14]. This organising allows for greater control of signalling, as each receives many inputs from numerous dendrites called graded potentials. The summation of these graded potentials into the cell must add up to at least the threshold potential to induce an action potential. This table gives the differences between the graded potential and action potential:
|Graded Potential
|Action Potential
|Travel a short distance
|long distance, fast, regenerative
|Mostly chemically gated ion channels
|Require voltage gated ion channels
|Strength varies with stimulus
|Same strength-frequency increases
Graded potentials can vary in size because they depend on the amount of neurotransmitter releasedThis is achieved through the regulation of free calcium inside the cell[16]. Axoaxonic synapses control calcium influx into the presynaptic terminal of . If more neurotransmitters bind to receptors, the amplitude of the depolarization increases. Summation to threshold can occur in two ways, or a combination of these two ways;
Spatial summation: a graded potential can travel to a neuron from several synapses. Spatial summation is the addition of simulation graded potentials arriving from different synapses.
Temporal summation: a second graded potential from a single synapse can occur before a previous one is completed. This means that the second graded potential is added to the potential at which the membrane is in that point in time, not the resting membrane potential. If above threshold, this summation also leads to an action potential.
Pre-synaptic Modulation
There are two main types of modulation; presynaptic and post synaptic. Postsynaptic modulation occurs through either IPSPs or EPSPs. The axon terminals synapsing onto either the cell body of the post synaptic cell (axosomatic synapse) or its dendrites (axodendratic synapse) are the structures involved in post synaptic inhibition. No modulation of the synapse itself occurs. Instead, these work by either adding to or reducing the combined total of the graded potentials onto the post synaptic cell. Our focus is on the synaptic junction, and since no modulation of the synapse itself, we will shift our attention to presynaptic modulation[17].
Presynaptic modulation occurs on the presynaptic terminal, directly affecting the release of neurotransmitters onto the target cell. This is known as volume modulation, as the number of neurotransmitters which bind to receptors affects the amplitude of the graded potential to be received by the postsynaptic cell body[18]. Axoaxonic synapses occur in both presynaptic facilitation and inhibition. For the modulatory mechanism to be facilitating, the modulating axon when it is excited causes an increase in the amount of neurotransmitter released from the pre synaptic terminal of the axon it synapses on to. The opposite happens for inhibitory modulation, where excitation of the modulatory neuron causes a decrease in neurotransmitter release from the presynaptic terminal[19].
This is achieved through the regulation of free calcium inside the cell[21]. Axoaxonic synapses control calcium influx into the presynaptic terminal of its post synaptic cell (that is, the cell which is having its neurotransmitter release modified). By altering the amount of calcium that that flows into a terminal, small changes in the resting membrane potential can make an effective synapse inoperative or a weak synapse highly effective[22].
Three mechanisms have been recognised as causing pre synaptic inhibition (experimenting with the neurons of invertebrates and mechanoreceptor neurons of vertebrates):
• Activation of metabotropic receptors that leads to simultaneous closure of Ca2+ channels and opening voltage gated K+ channels, both of which decrease the influx of of Ca2+ and enhances repolarization of the cell
• Activation of ionotrpoic GABA-gated Cl- channels, resulting in greater Cl- conductance, decreasing amplitude of action potential in presynaptic terminal. As a result, less depolarzisation occurs and fewerCa2+ channels are activated
• The third is less understood, but seems to work by decreasing sensitivity of one or more steps involved in the release process [23].
Presynaptic facilitation can be caused by an enhance influx of Ca2+. This can be achieved by closing K+ channels, thereby allowing Ca2+ influx to occur for longer. It is thought that facilitation generally occurs by depolarizing the presynaptic terminal, enhancing Ca+ influx in this way.
It is this ability to regulate Ca2+ in the presynaptic terminal that gives chemical synapses their flexible controlcell[24]. Many types of neurotransmitters exist and the ability to manipulate their release is fundemental in prioritizing and organising communication in the nervous system.
As previously mentioned synapse could either be "chemical" or electrical and the presence of neurotransmitters is the distinguishing feature of the chemical synapse. General Neurotransmitters are chemical s produced by the pre-synaptic neuron which is stored in synaptic vesicles and released into the synaptic cleft. The major role for neurotransmitter is to allow transmission of signals between neurons.These neurotransmitters would only bind to specific receptors on the post-synaptic neuron to produce any response. In the synaptic cleft the neurotransmitter could either diffuse and metabolize or undergoes reuptake back into the pre-synaptic neurons. However, special types of neurotransmitters such as Peptide neurotransmitters (histamine, cholecystokinin, neuropeptide Y, and somatostatin) are not produced from terminal buttons of axon but rather from the cell body. Moreover, in rare cases some neurotransmitters such as Nitric oxide and carbon monoxide transport retrograde (from axon back to the soma)which is opposite to the general neurotransmitter where the synaptic vesicles transport is through anterograde.
Neurotransmitters could be categorized into 2 major groups inhibitory and excitatory according to their reaction on the post-synaptic neuron membrane.
Inhibitory neurotransmitters-causes hyperpolarization that prevent action potential in post-synaptic neuron (calm the brain)
Excitatory neurotransmitters-causes depolarization which promotes action potential in post-synaptic neuron(stimulate the brain)
|Types of neurotransmitters
|General Names
|Biogenic amines [26]
|Dopamine,epinephrine,noreepinephrine ,serotonin and histamine
|• Involved in mood and behavior
• Blood pressure control
• Sexual behavior
• Arousal
• Motivation
• Fight or Flight response
|• Parkinson's disease
• Mood disorder
• Anxiety
• Schizophrenia
|Neuropeptide [27]
|Neuropeptide Y
• behavior
• learning
• memory
• appetite
• sleep cycle
|• Anorexia
• Bulimia
• Obesity
|• Involved in activation of skeletal muscle
• Cognitive function-especially memory
|• Myasthenia gravis
• Lambert-Eaton
• Botulism
|Excitatory amino neurotransmitters
|Glutamate,glycine and aspartic acid
|Major excitatory neurotransmitter in spinal cord
|• Hyperekplexia (myoclonic startle syndrome)
• Seizures due to ingestion of domoic acid
• Rasmussen's encephalitis
|Inhibitory Amino neurotransmitters [28]
|Gamma Aminobutyric acid (GABA)
|Major inhibitory neurotransmitter in brain
|• Stiff person syndrome
• Epilepsy
|Gaseous neurotransmitters [29]
|Nitric oxide and Carbon monoxide
|• Mediate vasodilatation
• Aids gaseous exchange [30]
• Muscle relaxer
• Regulate gastrointestinal motility
|• Ischemia
• gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and neurogical disorder
• erectile dysfunction
Diseases Associated with Synaptic Junctions Dysfunctions
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is one of the most common movement disorders, mostly effecting people over 60. Historically a person suffering from Parkinson's generally has a hunched posture due to 'tremors' that slowly worsen and cause mobility degeneration. James Parkinson studied the disease over the late 1800's, noticing the debilitating effects over time. This particular disease effects the production of the neurotransmitter Dopamine in the substantia nigra for reasons still unclear. Skilled movement in distal muscles is hindered as the synapse function is disstorted by an imbalance of Dopomine and Acetylcholine in the synaptic junction.
• Epidemiology: Is the most common movement related dissorder in the world (effects 1% of adults over 60). Global burden of Parkinson's disease, measured in disability adjusted life years per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004
• Etiology: Dopomine is produced in the Substantia nigra in the brain (rostral midbrain, Superior Colliculus) by specialised cells. These cells are destroyed in a Parkinson's patient by reasons which are still unclear, theories of the cause of Parkinson's include:
o Genetic disorder
o Free radicals
o External toxins
o Ageing
• Pathogenisis: Without the appropriate amounts of Dopomine being produced, the synaptic junctions begin to deterioate in function. In addition MAO-B is a chemical in the synapse that breaks down dopamine to maintain a balance with acetylcholine. Due to this imbalance the synapse cannot function properly, especially in fine or smooth movement of muscles. [31]
• Morphology : Macroscopically there is distinct atrophy of the substantia nigra. Microscopically the neuropil shows a loss of pigmentation and lewy bodies are present. As seen in the histological section below, the brown lewy body is present In the substantia nigra[32]
• Clinical manifestations [33]: Symptoms of a typical patient will include pain, rigidity and lack of mobility, all of which deteriorate. There are three major sighns of Parkinson's:
o Resting tremor: Common to occur in hands and worsens over time.
o Rigidity : During movement there is increased resistance on the joint.
o Bradykinesia: Inability to perform fine movement tasks like writing or tieing shoe laces.
o Other signs include a loss of balance and increasingly poor posture. A retropulsion test can be be carried out to test balance by pulling the patient backwards and noting if they correct themselves properly.
• Treatment: This varies with every patient and also to what extent the disease has destroyed the dopamine producing cells in the substantia nigra.
1) In its early stages, exercise and physical therapy is recommended to maintain mobility and deal with tremors that result from Parkinson's.
2) When this fails, medication can be sought. Non-dopomine drugs are used first including Amantidine which increases mobility and ability to exercise.
3) Ropinirole is a dopomine agnostic that helps stop tremors and stiffness and is used if the condition worsens.
4) The most effective treatment is the drug Levodopa which is a dopomine replacement and dramatically increases motor function. However this may have long-term effects from its use including drug-induce dyskinesia causing erratic involuntary movements. Motor movement complications were found in 1/3 of patients after only a 2 year use of the drug making this a last resort. [34]
As of yet there is no cure for Parkinson's disease.
• Prognosis[35] : This disease takes its course over a long period of time and isn't the direct cause of death in its patient. Symptoms intensify over approximately a ten year period before a sufferer is either completely bed ridden, needed to be placed in perminant care or occurances of complications take place that can lead to death.
Treatments mentioned earlier have become more effective over time and make life dealing with Parkinson's a lot easier. Over time there is no stopping the continual deteriation, immunity and other systems are effected. The synaptic junctions where Parkinson's clinically manifests, eventually become unbalanced all over the body which cause complications which cause death.
Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia Gravis is another disease which causes dysfunction within a synapse. It has a major effect on the neuromuscular junction, causing muscle weakness. Parkinson's disease showed how the effects of a disruption in the neurotransmitters can affect a synaptic junction, this time the receptors on the post-synaptic membrane are the cause.
• Epidemiology:[36] It is common disorder of the neuromuscular junction, effecting over 60 000 people in the USA alone, expected to rise with an aging population. Studies have shown two groups that have a high correlation with Myasthenia gravis: 1. Age 10-40 in women.
2. Age 50-75 in males
• Etiology: This is still unclear.
• Pathogenesis : Myasthenia Gravis is highly mediated by production of Antibodies to the Acetylcholine receptor (AChR) by the thymus (75% of patients have abnormalities in the thymus). These antibodies are responsible for dysfunction of the synaptic junctions within skeletal muscle fibers in three ways that lead to muscle weakness:
a. These antibodies are directed at the AChR's located on the sodium/potassium ion channels in the post-synaptic membranes of the neuromuscular junctions. This disrupts depolarization of the muscle if the number of antibodies is sufficient to block the opening of this channel. This is the main cause of muscle weakness in cases of Myasthenia Gravis.
b. Antibodies increase internalization, which causes an increased rate of degradation in AChR's. The replacement of receptors cannot keep up with the increased internalization leading to a low number of AChR's in the postsynaptic membrane.
c. The bodies own immune response to antibodies binding to AChR's causes a complement cascade of inflammatory molecules. In the process of inflammation, the problem won't be resolved and attempts to repair it only leads to the destruction of the receptors over time. [37]
• Morphology: Histological sections show very little change in skeletal muscle anatomy. All that is shown is slight myofiber II atrophy from weakness and disuse of the muscle. Within the connective tissue, lymphocytes are prominent. Within the synaptic junction affected, the number of AChR's can decrease by 2/3 in chronic cases. This number falls over the period of the disease.
• Clinical manifestations: As mentioned the major symptom is muscle weakness, which worsens with increased amounts of contractions, for example caused by exercise. Main affected area is the cranium (mastication and head rigidity) mainly the muscles of the eyelid causing ptosis (drooping). [38]
• Diagnosis: Done through blood tests looking for elevated levels of AChR antibodies seen in Myasthenia Gravis patients. The Edrophonium test to see improvements in
response to drugs that block the antibodies (Tensilon). Electromyography can be used to examine an effected synaptic junction in skeletal muscle to measure action potentials with electrical shocks. With diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis, it is rarely carried out quickly due to the symptoms being related to many other neurological disorders. A severity criteria is also available depending on the level of neurological deteriation:
Osserman's scale [39]
(Myasthenia Gravis=MG)
0. No MG symptoms.
1. MG with purely ocular muscle weakness.
2. MG patients with mild generalized weakness, usually with ocular muscle weakness but without bulbar involvement. Respiratory muscles are not involved.
3. MG with mild generalized weakness including bulbar involvement with dysarthria, dysphagia, and poor mastication.
4. MG patients with moderate generalized weakness, usually with moderate bulbar and respiratory muscle weakness.
5. MG with severe generalized, bulbar, and respiratory muscle weakness, or death due to MG-related complications.
• Treatment: To treat the symptoms of Myasthenia gravis, immunosuppressive corticosteroids are administered to relive the large proportion of antibodies. In worse cases plasmapheresis is carried out with good results. [41]. Thymectomy is the removal of the thymus which is responsible for the over-production of AChR antibodies and can relieve the symptoms or show total remission.
• Prognosis: With treatment the outlook is very good for patients with <5% mortality rate. If death occurs it may be caused by complications due to muscle weakness in the respiratory system leading to cardiac failure. however with treatment patients have a high chance of living a normal life.
Current and Future Research and Developments
Synaptic junction could be involved in various diseases as mentioned above in the table hence most of the current researches are focused more on the treatment and prevention of those diseases. In order to produce therapeutic treatments firstly an in-dept research must be carried out to understand the mechanism of the disease itself. Although Alzheimer disease had been introduced first in 1906 however till date the mechanism is not fully understood.However there [42] had been various current researches on how a synapse could lead to mood disorders such as Parkinson , schizophrenia and more recent Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer disease was claimed to be influenced by various disorders in the receptors. These receptors include : glutamate receptor, AcetylCholine, Dopamine receptor and serotonin receptors . All of the receptors mentioned are involved in cognitive learning and memory functions. Hence disruption to any or all of these channels would lead to diseases like Alzimers. Morover the current research on the area also proposed the possibility for synaptic cell adhesion proteins to be involved with these disorders. Synaptic cell adhesion proteins are molecules that bind the pre-synaptic neuron and the post synaptic neuron together to form a "synapse" . Abnormalities in these proteins (Neurexin and neuroligin) will create
dysfunctional synapse enabling the neurons to carry out its normal function . It was concluded that Alzheimer's Dementia occurred mostly due to the loss of neurons (leading to reduction in neurotransmitters)as opposed to Schizophrenia [43]where the disorder was mainly due to "neuronal dysfunction".
[44]As for the therapeutic research there had been a huge controversy on how N-cadherin could be the next therapeutic drug for cancer in future. The spreading of cancer is known to be related to cell to cell adhesion especially during metastasis. N-cadherin serve the purpose of adhering nerve cells together (in synaptic junction)which could retrieve the cancer cells. By contrast, [45] it was also claimed that N-cadherin could essentially promote "motility and invasion" of cancer cells hence further research is still required.
everyone add, good resources that you come across.
(pretty much just thumbnails showing a whole lot of images we've come across. Will help ppl with visualizing)
- Axon- nerve fibre conducting away from the neuron
- EPSP- excitatory post-synaptic potential. A depolarizing graded potential. Brings a cell's membrane closer to threshold
- Collateral Axon Branch- a branch of an axon running parallel with the parent axon
- IPSP- inhibitory post-synaptic potential. Hyperpolarizing graded potential. Takes the cell membrane away from threshold
- Metastasis- Transference of a disease from one part of the body or organ to another via blood vessels.
- Postsynaptic neuron- neuron after the synapse
- Presynaptic neuron - neuron before the synapse (usually the one that secrete neurotransmitters)
- Soma- Cell body of a neuron
- Spatial summation- the combining of graded potentials from different neurons onto a cell
- Synapse- A junction where impulses is transferred from one neuron to the next
- Temporal summation- the combining of graded potentials from the save neuron but at different times. The time between the two potentials is small enough that the second potential adds on top of the previous
- Terminal buttons- is an area located at the end of the axon responsible for secreting neurotransmitters
- voltage dependent channels- channels in the membrane of cells which are activated or inactivated depending on the potential across the membrane
- Volume modulation- Modulation of the amount of neurotransmitter released from a pre synaptic terminal
- Synaptic Vesicle- membrane bound organelles within the presynaptic ending that contains a neurotransmitter substance which is released on depolarization.
- Synaptic cleft- the gap or small space between the axon terminal and effector cell.
- Postsynaptic membrane- the portion of effector cell's membrane.
- Neurotransmitter binding site- where neurotransmitter molecules bind to the receptor site located on the postsynaptic membrane.
- ↑ Burns ME, Augustine GJ. Synaptic structure and function: dynamic organization yields architectural precision. Cell. 1995; 83:187-94
- ↑ Murthy, V. (2000). information released on Synapse. Cell. 101 (0), 123-157
- ↑ Burgin,A.M , F.J. Eisenhart, S.M. Baca, W.B. Kristan Jr. and K.A. French.(2005). Sequential development of electrical and chemical synaptic connections generates a specific behavioral circuit in the leech, J Neurosci 25, pp. 2478–2489
- ↑ Jay R. Gibson, Michael Beierlein, and Barry W. Connors. (2005). Functional Properties of Electrical Synapses Between Inhibitory Interneurons of Neocortical Layer 4. Journal of Neurophysiology. 93 (1), 467-480 . electrical type. Link: http://jn.physiology.org/content/93/1/467.full.pdf+html
- ↑ Hormuzdi.S,G. et al.. (2004). Electrical synapses: a dynamic signaling system that shapes the activity of neuronal networks. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1662 (0), 113–137
- ↑ Fukuda, T. & Kosaka, T.(2000). The dual network of GABAergic interneurons linked by both chemical and electrical synapses: a possible infrastructure of the cerebral cortex. Neurosci. Res. 38, 123–130.
- ↑ Elaine N. Marieb (2004). human anatomy and physiology. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings. 976.
- ↑ J. G. NICHOLLS AND D. PURVES. (1972). A COMPARISON OF CHEMICAL AND ELECTRICAL SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION BETWEEN SINGLE SENSORY CELLS AND A MOTONEURONE IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM OF THE LEECH. Journal of physiology. 225 (0), 637-656.
- ↑ Principles of Neuroscience (Fourth Edition) Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessel. Published by McGraw-Hill (2000)
- ↑ Principles of Human Physiology (2002) Germann, Stanfield. Published by Benjamin Cummings
- ↑ <pubmed>21503145</pubmed>
- ↑ Human Physiology: An Ingegrated Approach (2001) Silverthorn DU. Published by Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
- ↑ <pubmed>11317268</pubmed>
- ↑ Principles of Human Physiology (2002) Germann, Stanfield. Published by Benjamin Cummings
- ↑ Bear, Connors, & Paradiso(2007). Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore MD.
- ↑ <pubmed>19005071</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>21262468</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>10202545</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>10202545</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>21150316</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>12813154</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>21292979</pubmed>
- ↑ Principles of Neuroscience (Fourth Edition) Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessel. Published by McGraw-Hill (2000)
- ↑ <pubmed>19005071</pubmed>
- ↑ Nicoll Roger A, "Chapter 21. Introduction to the Pharmacology of CNS Drugs" (Chapter). Katzung BG: Basic & Clinical Pharmacology, 11e: http://www.accessmedicine.com.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/content.aspx?aID=4519043
- ↑ Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks H, "Chapter 7. Neurotransmitters & Neuromodulators" (Chapter). Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks H: Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology, 23e: http://www.accessmedicine.com.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/content.aspx?aID=5241648
- ↑ Schorge JO, Schaffer JI, Halvorson LM, Hoffman BL, Bradshaw KD, Cunningham FG, "Chapter 15. Reproductive Endocrinology" (Chapter). Schorge JO, Schaffer JI, Halvorson LM, Hoffman BL, Bradshaw KD, Cunningham FG: Williams Gynecology: http://www.accessmedicine.com.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/content.aspx?aID=3155958
- ↑ Hauser Stephen L, Beal M. F, "Chapter 360. Mechanisms of Neurologic Diseases" (Chapter). Fauci AS, Braunwald E, Kasper DL, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL, Loscalzo J: Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17e: http://www.accessmedicine.com.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/content.aspx?aID=2900867
- ↑ <pubmed>9651518</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>11148674</pubmed>
- ↑ Ondo W, Jankovic J, Shwartz K, Almaguer M, Simpson RK. Unilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation for refractory essential tremor and Parkinson's disease tremor. Neurology 1998; 51: 1063-1069. http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/BI108_1999_Groups/Neuroelectrodes_Team/background.html
- ↑ Kumar, Cotran, Robbins. Basic Pathology 7th edition. 2003; 844.
- ↑ <pubmed>15172778</pubmed>
- ↑ Levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease: an old drug still going strong Werner Poewe1 Angelo Antonini2 Jan CM Zijlmans3 Pierre R Burkhard4 François vingerhoets5, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria;
- ↑ <pubmed>0001762</pubmed>
- ↑ The Epidemiology of Myasthenia Gravis, Lawrence H. Phillips II, M.D. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/482694_1
- ↑ Fundamentals of neurologic disease By Larry Ernest Davis, Molly K. King, Jessica L. Schultz http://books.google.com.au/books?id=moRp2jWZp0QC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=synaptic+junctions+disorders&source=bl&ots=_aV4k-61-2&sig=vko01n8xOAOzU3u3dZHKtqHJelU&hl=en&ei=gdi4Tc3pA4PW0QG0z9jmDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ Kumar, Cotran, Robbins. Basic Pathology 7th edition. 2003; 780.
- ↑ Osserman and Genkins, 1971; Det- terbeck et al., 1996
- ↑ Seronegative myasthenia gravis: disease severity and prognosis F. Romi, J. A. Aarli and N. E. Gilhus http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/products/journals/ene/mcqs/jun05.pdf
- ↑ Current and emerging therapies for the treatment of myasthenia gravis, Renato Mantegazza, Silvia Bonanno, Giorgia Camera, et al http://www.dovepress.com/current-andemerging-therapies-for-the-treatment-of-myasthenia-gravis-a6791
- ↑ <pubmed>20858652</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>11449037</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>17371194</pubmed>
- ↑ <pubmed>10545506</pubmed>
Coordinator Comment to all Groups
I will add a general comment that will be the same to all groups under this heading.
Referencing Extension Problem
--Mark Hill 13:16, 3 May 2011 (EST) As mentioned in the lecture, I am aware of the referencing extension problem on your project pages. I have the following temporary solution, of removing the extension, so that groups can continue to add content to their project pages. I am also giving everyone a 1 week extension before the peer assessment.
This should only be done if your project page is not allowing you to save changes!
A. The Easy Way....
The following 4 steps can be done on the webpage or select all content in edit mode, copy and paste into a text editor. All steps must be completed before you attempt to save.
- In page edit mode, find all <pubmed> reference tags.
- Replace this tag with [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ Note, there should be no spaces between the internet address and the pmid number.
- Now find all </pubmed> reference tags.
- Replace this second tag with ]
This will generate a numbered reference list that we can later fix up.
B. The Better Looking Result....
Whatever is between the <ref> </ref></pubmed> tags is what will appear in your reference list, so you can format the reference and link to appear in your reference list.
|2011 Projects: Synaptic Junctions | Gap Junctions | Tight Junctions | Desmosomes | Adherens Junctions | Neuromuscular Junction


text:
I'm interested in playing Microscope online and was wondering if anyone knows what tools exist that might support this?
Microscope differs from many RPGs in that it is primarily playing using blank index cards, which you fill in as you play and arrange in a timeline. Features such as battle-maps and dice rolling therefore are not much use.
I've used MapTool in the past, but i'm not sure that it supports the edit-on-the-fly card functionality that would be required.
Any suggestions?


text:
So, HOW AWESOME are these terrific adhesives from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L?!!! They are amazing! We have been very blessed to have the opportunity to use their 3D Foam Squares in-house on our store display boards and these things are TOUGH! They keep your card together, and the little liners peel so easily that it saves us loads of time! We love them!! There are two packages of these little treasures in the prize package…white and black!! oooh…luxury! Plus a gorgeous poinsettia that is so wonderful to raise up the petals on! You'll have some serious fun, so visit all the blogs and comment!
Here's the Prize package!
Here's who is blogging today!
Stampendous Impressions (you are here)
Scrapbook Adhesives Blog
Janelle Stollfus
Suzanne Czosek
Tobi Crawford
Have fun!! You'll love what our designers have done!!


text:
The behemoth that is the Harry Potter franchise rolls into the first half of the final chapter with a darker, colder edge than we've seen in any of the past films. Gone are the magic and merriment of Hogwarts and even the pretense that this is in any way a film for the younger set.
Beloved books pop off the page in this week's Reel Deal column.
First up, guest reviewer Seth Breedlove has his take on the latest movie adaptation of author J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" book series. On DVD, Beverly Cleary's "Ramona" runs wild in her first feature film. And coming soon to theaters are a modern "Gulliver's Travels," starring Jack Black, a returning classic, "Winnie the Pooh."
Check out our guest reviewer's comic book and pop culture podcast, "Seth vs. the Flying Saucers," available for free download on iTunes.
Take it away, Seth.
"Deathly Hallows"
The behemoth that is the Harry Potter franchise rolls into the first half of the final chapter with a darker, colder edge than we've seen in any of the past films. Gone are the magic and merriment of Hogwarts and even the pretense that this is in any way a film for the younger set. These things have been replaced with a sense of dread that permeates the whole film. "Deathly Hallows" has been split into two halves in an effort to let the story breathe. It's debatable, at a time when your average blockbuster clocks in at over 120 minutes, whether or not this was a necessity or a means of extracting more money from the series' rabid fan base.
As the movie begins, darkness has prevailed and Voldemort's evil forces have already begun to usurp the remaining good left in the world. There are constant allegories to Nazi Germany, and this is never more obvious than when Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak into the Ministry of Magic, where they find constant allusions to propaganda and imagery that evoke elements of the Third Reich.
Obviously, a film with a message that directly relates to a historical act of near genocide isn't exactly for children. And therein lies one of my biggest problems with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" –– the magic is gone. Mind you, I'm not talking about spells and flying broomsticks and potions. No, the magic I refer to is the kind that the first three films in the series were filled with. Things like Harry's first ride on his broomstick or the wonder of Hogwarts covered in snow. There is no sense of wonder in this film, just unending dread.
Now, obviously, this is the nature of the story, and as the first act in a two-act finale that ends in a cliffhanger, the stakes were going to be raised. Characters would die and things would be bleak. It's hard to hold the gloom of the movie against it because it is intentional, but, nonetheless, it makes the movie less of an adventure and more of an endurance challenge.
I'm reminded of a film in a franchise that laid the groundwork for sequels that raise the stakes over their predecessors and did so while maintaining a sense of magic: "The Empire Strikes Back." In that film, the forces of evil were gaining the upper hand constantly throughout the course of the story and, yet, there were still moments of pure beauty and, again, movie magic. "Deathly Hallows" doesn't have any of those magical moments.
The other glaring fault of the film is that director David Yates still doesn't seem to have any idea how to frame, edit or choreograph an action sequence. This has been a problem since he took over the series. Here, the chase scenes, which are numerous, are over before you even realize they've begun, and often times leave one feeling disoriented rather than thrilled. The film trucks through any scene that could otherwise serve to heighten the audience's tension, with the exception of one brilliantly filmed bit of action toward the end.
Having said all that, it's still a beautiful film. The production design finds an aesthetic and sticks to it, with a visual palette that is distinctly it's own. It's dark, yes, but never boring to look at. The sets are gorgeous, particularly when our lead characters descend into the Ministry of Magic, and even scenes set in endless forest or rocky hillsides manage to be visually arresting. Not since Alfonso Cuaron's "Prisoner of Azkaban" has a Harry Potter film had such a singular look.
Though the movie is dark, it doesn't completely ignore the humorous aspects of the world in which the story takes place. A scene where Harry and Ron go behind enemy lines by means of a magical toilet is a perfect example. Thankfully, Yates can capture emotional performances from his actors as well as he can humor.
Our three leads have never been this good. Daniel Radcliffe, in particular, continues to impress with his ability to pull off a role as iconic as Harry Potter. The emotional impact of "Deathly Hallows" is what sets it apart from the rest, and, in the end, it's what makes up for any of the film's shortcomings. There are at least three moments here that stand out as high points in the series, in terms of their ability to pull at your heart. Best of all, these moments never feel forced or manipulative.
While still not perfect, "Deathly Hallows" is a beautifully shot film, incredibly well acted and more than capable of earning a few tears –– a high point for the series to be sure. I just hope that with the final chapter we can return to some of the magic that made me fall for the franchise in the first place.
On DVD
Little sisters can be pests.
That's a fact of life that hasn't changed in the last 50 years.
They're bundles of mischief, made up of spying eyes, grubby little fingers, tangled hair and ticklish toes.
Beverly Cleary wrote the book on pestering little sisters. She wrote several, actually – more than a dozen dating back to the 1950s, many of them featuring one pest in particular, Ramona Quimby.
Ramona hasn't aged much in the years between "Beezus and Ramona" in 1955 and "Ramona's World," which Cleary published in 1999.
She's perpetually about 8, and a constant thorn in the side of her big sister, Beatrice, whom Ramona saddled with the nickname Beezus.
The books have been beloved for decades, which makes me wonder why it's taken so long for pesky Ramona to make it into a movie.
More than 50 years of fans also sets the bar pretty high for filmmakers, who clearly cleared it with "Ramona and Beezus," a charming movie newly released on DVD. (And I'm not just saying so because one of the screenwriters, Nick Pustay, is related to a reporter at The Independent).
"Ramona and Beezus" stars Disney darlings Joey King as Ramona, Selena Gomez as Beezus, Hutch Dano as Henry Huggins and Jason Spevack as Howie Kemp.
The adults – John Corbett as dad Robert Quimby, Bridget Moynahan as mom Dorothy Quimby, Ginnifer Goodwin as Aunt Bea, and Josh Duhamel as Hobart – are perfect pawns in Ramona's pestering plots and pranks.
But the real magic materializes inside Ramona's vivid imagination. She dreams up danger where there is none – picturing a rocky canyon beneath her feet as she dangles from the monkeybars on the school playground.
Meanwhile, real life for Ramona and family is scary enough without the embellishments. Bills are piling up for her parents, who fear losing their home after Mr. Quimby (Corbett) loses his job.
It's a timely plot twist with a message many families might relate to: When times get tough, families pull together.
"Ramona and Beezus" is a bright and colorful as a child whose gone wild with a set of fingerpaints.
It'll put a smile on your face and a laugh in your heart.
Trailer time
In theaters Dec. 22, bigger-than-life comedian Jack Black brands "Gulliver's Travels," a book penned by Jonathan Swift in 1726, with his own style and silliness.
In the movie, a mail-room-flunkie and aspiring travel writer, Gulliver (Black) gets tossed by the Bermuda Triangle onto an island with miniature inhabitants, and starts to like the feeling of being looked up to. The film co-stars Jason Segal, Emily Blunt and Billy Connolly as itty-bitty islanders.
In July 2011, author A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" is back on the big screen for the first time in more than 35 years – with a new story, but the same classic charm of the original 1977 Disney adaptation "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh."
It's got the look of that first film – one of my favorites as a child – with the pages of Milne's storybook coming to life.
A lot of sub-par "Pooh" films have been rushed to video in the last 30 years, but I'm banking on this one being different.
Contact Robert McCune at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 330-775-1124.


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There has been some itching going on lately around Amy's household. Her son came to her and said that he's been itching. First, they thought it was fleas because her son has been allowing the dog to come in the bed with him. Turns out, when he was back to school this Monday (December 3), he had lice.
The mystery was finally solved, but lots of work left to do. They had a lice doctor come over and got everything taken care of. Now the whole family is healthy, but Amy and Bobby wanted to use this opportunity to share with families, parents and kids alike that lice is nothing to be ashamed of. It's not embarrassing and it's something that happens to almost everyone.
Listen below to the full exchange.
Photo: Getty Images


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Oh Annie...
I will be tired of you by August 1 if you are campaigning already.
The first trailer for Les Miserables, heavily featuring Anne Hathaway, was released today. And here she is stepping out with a broken arm in NYC.
Coincidence or conspiracy?
I love Les Miserables so much, and I want so badly for this movie to be so great, for now, that for this incident, I'll say coincidence. But she'll certainly be in our faces, hard, starting now, as we approach the mega mega arrival of The Dark Knight Rises.
Will it work for or against?
By the time press for TDKR is over, will you want to shut the door on Annie forever? Or will she be so great as Cat Woman, it'll only make us even more excited for her Fantine?
Before you start snarking, and I will remind myself of this too, think of Christopher Nolan. He trusted her. Is that enough?
Yes I will ask Sasha about her dress.


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WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Investments in family planning could save developing nations $11 billion a year, a U.N. Population Fund report released Wednesday stated.
The report -- "The State of Global Population: By Choice, Not By Chance" -- focused on family planning as a human right and is about "the importance of being able to choose if, when and how many children to have," lead author Margaret Greene said in a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington.
The report makes the case for both the human rights and economic development rewards of family planning. Worldwide, 222 million women of childbearing age lack access to modern contraceptives. The largest disparities exist in less developed and poorer regions.
Joined by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other partners, the UNFPA organized a meeting in July that garnered $4.6 billion in funding commitments to make voluntary family planning available to 120 million girls and women by 2020. However, a total of $8.1 billion per year is necessary to address the unmet need for family planning in developing countries.
"Those investments would save billions more dollars by reducing maternal and neonatal health costs but also by protecting schooling and employment from disruption by unintended pregnancy," Greene said.
Susan Cohen, director of government affairs with the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual health advocacy group, noted that the need for family planning is just as relevant in the United States.
"The main reason that United States women use birth control is because they can't afford to have a child right now or they can't afford to take care of their existing family," Cohen said.
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said she was astonished that debates about contraception persist despite data showing the negative effects of unplanned pregnancy on education, civic engagement and income, particularly among teens.
"We're committed to protecting the rights for all of our sisters around the world," Schakowsky said.
While married women of childbearing age have traditionally been the focus of family planning services, Greene said, "It's equally essential to extend the right to family planning to young people, for whom age-appropriate sexuality education and contraception for timing their child-bearing is essential to life planning. The ability to plan their births is essential to other aspects of their lives."
The report also seeks to improve family planning services to men and disadvantaged populations around the world. The report can be found online at: http://www.unfpa.org/swp.


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I have some very big (& somewhat bittersweet) news! Today I launched a new blog, La Petite Farmhouse, to fit this new season of life. A place for my new husband & I to create something together. It's been nearly ten beautiful years of blogging at La Petite Fashionista. It never felt right to just rebrand this site. I want to keep this little blog here as time capsule of my last 10 years of finding my voice here on LPF. Thank you for being here, always to support & encourage my dreams! It's been an amazing journey... and we're just getting started.
I thought I'd share the piece that I wrote for La Petite Farmhouse, to tell the story how how I got here.
So here I am sharing my story... the one where I go from fashion blogger to farmgirl! Well, back in 2007, I started a fashion blog, La Petite Fashionista. It was my creative outlet and space for me to share & evolve my personal style. It allowed me to connect with amazing fellow fashionistas and brands I never dreamed of working with! It even led me to major in Fashion Merchandising at Florida State. I ended up moving all the way to Wisconsin for my first internship and later job as a merchandiser when I graduated.
I ended up sitting a few seats away from Kyle in the office. We had mutual friends & I'd bug him to eat lunch with me everyday because I thought he was cute! Eventually we became friends ourselves and realized we had a connection. We had our first date and I was intrigued by his background growing up in a rural area on a former dairy farm. He was instilled with the same work ethic I had growing up with entrepreneurial parents.
Finally, after a few months of dating he introduced me to his family and took me to his beloved Moon Ridge Farm. You see, what Kyle didn't know was that as a kid growing up in coastal Florida, I always dreamed of living on a farm and wide open spaces. Way back in Kindergarten when teachers would have us draw photos of what we wanted to do when we grew up, I'd draw a big red barn in the photo and proclaim I wanted to live on a farm. So it felt a little bit like fate when I saw it that day.
Years of dating Kyle brought many weekends and holidays out at the farm. I was able to bring my family out there too, and it was easy to for them to see why I loved it there. The farm represented family, tradition, a closer connection to nature, and simpler ways of doing things; a few values that are important to us both.
When we started dreaming about our future together it always ended up at the farm. With his parents living in the farmhouse we never though renovating it would be possible. But, it is! It may not be the easy route for us. We could have bought a starter home a couple of years ago. It's the option worth waiting for. There's no place else we'd rather have as our forever home.
When we got married we knew we wanted it to be at the farm (but more on that later)! Kyle's family spent every weekend preparing the barn & our ceremony spot in the woods for our big day. Kyle built all of the tables for the reception, his mom grew all of the flowers, my friends & family helped come in and arrange flowers, decorate, and make signs. We said our vows among the trees and promised to support each others dreams.
So here we are! After nearly 10 years of blogging at La Petite Fashionista, I wanted a new space that the two of us could share this new season of life. It didn't feel right to just flip the switch on La Petite Fashionista readers, so I built a new Instagram channel this summer, and have been loving building our audience from the start. We are SO looking forward to sharing our journey of renovation- but even more than that, a place to inspire and help you slow down a bit to enjoy life's most important moments!
Come visit our happy little space at La Petite Farmhouse & be sure to follow along on Instagram for even more inspiration.


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BANGOR, Maine — The two young eagles that lost their father to an electric shock and nearly lost their mother to illness could be just weeks away from their release, according to the people rearing the eaglets in the absence of their parents.
The Kenduskeag Avenue eaglets are becoming stronger fliers and likely will be moved into a larger "flyway" pen over the weekend, according to Marc Payne, owner of Avian Haven in Freedom. The flyway, part of the Large Raptor Compound, allows the eagles to fly in a 160-foot loop to build their strength.
"They're getting a nice variety of food, from fish to deer that were hit by cars and donated by the sheriff's department," Payne said.
The eaglets are becoming good fliers, but the landing can be a challenge.
"They're still working on their coordination," Payne said.
The eaglets are trying to learn how to perch properly, but sometimes they miss the branch or lose their balance and tumble to the ground. Their wings do a good job of breaking the fall, he added.
For the past few weeks, the eaglets have been sharing a large habitat with five other eagles, including one adult male that is meant to serve as a role model.
"We want them to grow up being real eagles," Payne said.
When the eaglets are ready for their release, Avian Haven will consult with a state eagle biologist to determine the best place and time to set them loose. It will need to be in a spot where there isn't already a nesting pair, according to Payne.
It's likely the siblings will go their separate ways after their release and seek a suitable habitat on their own, Payne said. That could be in the Bangor area, elsewhere in Maine or somewhere else out of state, depending on what food supplies are like and what other eagles are established in the area.
The eaglets were rescued from their nest along Kenduskeag Avenue in May, one day after their mother was found struggling on the sidewalk, suffering from toxin poisoning. Hours later, their father was killed when it struck a power line. The eaglets were believed to be about six weeks old at the time.
Avian Haven took in the eaglets and their mother. The mother was released in early June and has found a new mate.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter @nmccrea213


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This is such an easy and delicious meal to make for your partner, theres not many who don't love a rare steak, roast tomatoes, delicious home chips and indulgent bernaise sauce.
2 Good quality steaks of your choice of cut
Salt & Pepper
Butter &Oil
Vine tomatoes or larger
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Rosemary
Veg or Sunflower Oil
Bernaise Sauce
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 Large shallot diced
3 free-range egg yolks
225g Melted Butter
Tarragon Leaves finely copped
The first thing you need to do is get your oven on and get the tomatoes in having sprinkled them with sea salt, pepper, olive oil and sprigs of rosemary. Put them on around 180 and cook for an hour.
Peel and Chop your potatoes and get the oil on, rinse and then dry your chips and when the oil is hot enough put them in the oil for around 5mins and then take out and leave to get on with your bernaise. Start by putting the vinegar and diced shallot into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. Now strain the vinegar into a heatproof bowl and add the egg yolks and put the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk together until thickened and light in colour. Now gradually add the melted butter, whisking constantly. Season with black pepper and salt if needed, then add the chopped tarragon leaves. Now put your chips in for their second fry and get the pan nice and hot ready for the steaks and add some butter and a dash of oil, season the steaks with salt and pepper and when the pan is searing hot put the steaks on to cook. Get your tomatoes out of the oven and arrange everything on a plate and put some bernaise sauce in little pots or dish for dipping chips and steak in. God it is so yummy, I adore bernaise sauce, I want to dip everything in it!


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"Over the past three years, Fujitsu has created a stable, flexible and cost-effective platform that can scale as our company grows. This will enable our future expansion, while making management simple"
Regis Pitolet, IT Infrastructure and Operations Director, TECTEO Group
TECTEO Group is an industrial group that pursues a dynamic and diversified policy in the energy and telecommunications sectors in Wallonia and Brussels. The group's strategy is expressed through four brands: RESA specializes in the management of electricity and gas distribution networks in the Province of Liège; VOO is the main telecom operator for the whole of Wallonia and parts of Brussels; TECTEO Invest maintains the company's financial investments in other companies; and TECTEO Energy is dedicated to the development of new projects in the renewable energy sector.
TECTEO Group was created through the merger of ten diverse public and private sector companies. As a result, there were more than 15 segmented data centers across Belgium, making it impossible to merge business applications across the group. Furthermore, they were difficult and time-consuming to manage.
"Four years ago we had 15 different data centers, each of which had a different architecture and infrastructure which led to a lack of consistency and high management costs," explains Regis Pitolet, IT Infrastructure and Operations Director. "We wanted to consolidate all these disparate systems into one easy-to-manage server and storage solution in the most efficient way possible."
Pitolet had experience working with Fujitsu from previous roles and asked the company for advice. Fujitsu suggested a staged migration to a new centralized and consolidated data center, starting with a pilot phase. This would minimize disruption to the business.
"The objective of the project was to harmonize the diverse, difficult to manage systems in the different areas of the group so they could continue to play a key role in the company's competitiveness," adds Pitolet. "By simplifying the management, we also expected to reduce the total cost of ownership."
Fujitsu consolidated and virtualized the infrastructure of two data centers, starting with a virtualization project and a consolidated SAN in each data center. There were two distinct tracks running throughout the project: one was dedicated to the data center consolidation program, while the other focused on providing enough capacity to handle the company's growth and need for new services.
"We took a pragmatic, long-term approach to ensure the migration was smooth and did not disrupt our operations. It was thanks to the flexibility and expertise of the Fujitsu team that we were able to carry out such a seamless project," says Pitolet. "We have now virtualized 90 percent of our applications and have almost 1,100 virtual machines running on 50 Fujitsu servers in two fully replicated sites."
Fujitsu also implemented IaaS, which provides the company with a well-performing solution while reducing management costs significantly. It effectively provisions services across the business as and when needed.
"Over the past three years, Fujitsu has created a stable, flexible and cost-effective platform that can scale as our company grows," comments Pitolet. "This will enable our future expansion, while making management simple."
TECTEO Group now has two fully replicated Tier 3 data centers in Villers-le-Bouillet in South Belgium, comprising a total of 20 PRIMERGY RX600 S6 servers, 4 ETERNUS DX400 S2 SANs, 1 ETERNUS DX8700 S2 and 30 PRIMERGY RX300 S7 rack servers. Together, they deliver almost 25TB of RAM and more than 1PB in storage capacity.
TECTEO Group is enjoying increased efficiency and lower costs and, although the company has continued to grow, Pitolet has not had to increase the numbers in his own team because the new solution is simple to administer. New services can be deployed in a matter of hours rather than weeks, helping the company become more agile and responsive to changing market demands.
"We are more flexible and can react more quickly to the needs of our users and customers, thanks to the ease of deploying new services," continues Pitolet. "The applications also perform more effectively which in turn makes our users more productive. Overall, it has transformed how we do business."Moreover, moving from a heterogeneous environment to an integrated, consolidated architecture has had an impact on energy use by reducing the number of physical servers and thus electricity and cooling consumption. Two hundred servers have been replaced with just 50 Fujitsu PRIMERGY servers which collectively host 1,100 virtual machines.
"We have managed to reduce our hardware footprint considerably even as we have grown as an organization. When we started the project we were handling 10TB of data; that has since grown to more than 1PB across the company," says Pitolet. "It is thanks to Fujitsu's flexibility and scalability that this growth has not affected the migration or the provision of new services. And by implementing a fully replicated dual site concept, we are safer than before even in the case of a major disaster."
With the new replicated data centers up and running, Pitolet is continually looking to fine tune performance and get the best out of the solution.
"We are constantly modifying the architecture for maximum efficiency and we're involving more of the business so we can identify their needs and ensure they are met," concludes Pitolet. "We'll continue to work with Fujitsu in an effort to increase capacity and service level without increasing costs.
"Fujitsu was a flexible, pragmatic and knowledgeable partner with the ability to scale up as the project grew in scope."
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By: Don Todd
I got a chance to sit down with half of the duo from the "Derek and Romaine Show" on Sirius and XM radio a few weeks ago during "The Dinah". Romaine has been an advocate for many issues in the LGBT community. She first came into the spotlight as a member of the Angel Action in Laramie Wyoming after her friend Matthew Shepard was killed. She shared with me stories of her partner Iris and their daughter Romaine and their plans on expanding their family.
You and Iris have a daughter Romaine; any plans for more children?
We are, yeah. I have been after my partner Iris for a while to carry a child. When this all started we had a deal that I would carry the first, she would carry the second, and I would carry the third. I have always wanted three kids, so I did my part. I carried a child and I hated it. I was miserable and was really a crabby pregnant woman and I might have scared her. So when it was her turn she told me "yeah I'm scared. I can't do it." So I was upset, but with the whole economy and everything we put off trying for a while. Even gay people have to be somewhat responsible. So we put it off for a while and at the end of last year we started trying again. So I started the process and went through two rounds of IUI and neither was successful, then my mom died. So we thought, maybe this is the universe saying, "let's just take a little break; let's regroup; and then let's try again." I have a little bit more traveling and then in May we might start trying again until we are successful. Who knew having a baby was so hard? I couldn't imagine being a gay guy and trying to have a child.
With having a child and dating in the gay community, I have found that, when it comes up that you have a child, it's usually the end of it. What is your take on those of us who have children and are dating?
It's interesting. I think the lesbians are a little bit more open-minded to dating women with children. Years ago I dated a woman with a child and it was really interesting. Sometimes I wonder, if something were to happen with Iris and me, and we were no longer together, I wonder what it would be like. I think it would be a VERY different experience.
I think part of it too, is that gay parents are much more aware of the consequences of certain things. We are much more aware of what other people are looking at from us, we are kind of much more closely watched to see if we are good parents or "good enough" parents in the eyes of many. So I think you make different dating decisions then if you didn't have a child.
You talk about your pre-school stories on the show, about you and the other moms and developing that network, Gay or Straight. What was your experience choosing a school for your daughter?
It was interesting for Iris and me. "Romie" (our daughter) has been in daycare / pre-school since she was five weeks old. We went around and really looked high and low even before we had Romie. We went and talked to the different daycares and schools and asked if they ever had gay parents before and how they felt about it. It was something that we knew we had to be really aware of and conscious of. So we found a school we liked and they said they had gay dads "once upon a time" so that was good.
The first and second years went by with no problems and it was great. The start of the third year we started getting all these invitations for birthday parties. So the first time we went to one I said to Iris, "Listen, we are going to divide and conquer here." We had a meeting in the car on the way there. We have to get to know the other parents. Part of it for me was babysitter network, cause you have to have a good babysitter network, that's important. The other thing was that it is really important for the other parents to know who we are so that, as Romie is growing up, and their kids are talking about Romie's mommies, we know what they are telling their kids too. It was almost as important that we know them as they know us. I went in knowing that there was going to be probably one set of parents that was going to have a problem with us and we were going to have to deal with "that".
The other parents FAR exceeded our expectations. Even the teachers are very supportive. Like when Mother's Day comes around they ask "how do you want us to do the cards?" or when Father's Day rolls around they ask if there is someone that she can make a card for. (For that we have her do it for her godfather.) They just really think about those things and it really gives me hope that there is going to be a point where having gay parents is a non-issue. I am hopeful, seeing this generation.
With the bullying in schools lately, with having same sex parents, is there anything like that you are thinking about for your daughter?
I think bullying is going to happen no matter what. I think the key is just having really good communication with your kid. We have started that really early, when there is an issue at the school whether it's a teacher or a friend. You know little kids: "I don't want to be your friend anymore." We sit down and talk about those things with Romie and tell her that "sometimes our friends say things that aren't very nice" and we talk about her feelings about it. If she's frustrated with it, we try to teach her the words to try to express the feelings she is having. That is something we are doing with her and trying to be very conscientious about. How are we going to explain certain things and how are we going to handle the first time she comes across a group of very hateful people who are going to criticize her family?
We remain hopeful that her generation of young people is not going to have the same stereotypes and crap that previous generations have seen. There are still going to be situations that we are going to come up against and it's just a matter of really communicating. I also think that gay people are so much more aware of these things and we really take the time to teach their kids about this stuff. Because we KNOW that this is something that is going to happen and we almost anticipate it and build up this level of protection around your family so that when it happens you are prepared to deal with it. I think that we seem to do that a lot more than our hetero counterparts do, and in turn we get a chance to get to know our children in a different way and I think that's unique.
Being a busy professional, are there any struggles you are running into balancing your career and your family?
I'm pretty lucky because my partner Iris is really "hands on" with Romie. I always worried with her not being the biological parent, how she was going to bond with Romie and how that relationship was going to form. Because I carried her for nine months, our relationship was inherent no matter what. It's interesting because Romie actually prefers Iris more than me. I get a little jealous sometimes, but Iris is a really wonderful parent. Where I'm lacking she picks up the slack. When I am traveling for the radio show, Iris is home with her and we also have a very strong support network. Lots of friends like A.D.D. Jeff, from the show; he serves very much as a father figure for Romie. He is the man who she sees the most on a week-to-week basis. This was actually the first time where Iris and I left her for the weekend, usually it's one or the other. We take her on the road a lot, but this weekend mommies need time away. So she is with uncle Jeff this weekend. "The Dinah" is not appropriate for a three-year-old.
Romaine can be heard on the Derek and Romaine show, Sirius radio channel 109 "Out Q" and on XM channel 98. Her book "The Whole World Was Watching" (available on amazon.com) describes how she ended up as a nationally recognized gay rights activist and the uncensored out-of-control lesbian on satellite radio.


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£14.95 £29.90
|Size guide
Animal prints never seem to go out of fashion, making an appearance on the catwalks every year in some form and this one is no exception.
Light, fluid and beautiful on the hips, our wrap is a timeless addition to any holiday wardrobe. If you need a quick cover up on your next holiday, there is nothing more perfect than a light-weight wrap to compliment your swimwear.
Handcrafted in England and made from our patented Transol® Tan Through swimwear fabric, allowing you to achieve an all over suntan and minimise tan lines while seamlessly matching your swimwear.
• Made in England
100% Transol Tan Through Fabric
Transol fabric, better known as 'Tan Through' is an exclusive, patented material, developed by Kiniki to allow the suns tanning rays to pass through it, helping you achieve that all over golden glow and minimise tan lines.
Making The Most of Tan Through Swimwear
For the complete guide to maximising the tanning potential of your swimwear and caring for your garment, please visit our Tan Tips page.
Sun Safety
Please take care when enjoying your time in the sun. It is important to protect your skin with a suitable sun cream offering UVA & UVB protection.
Havana Tan Through Beach Dress£38.45 £76.90
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Havana Tan Through Beach Wrap£14.95 £29.90
Havana Tan Through Bikini Brief£14.95 £29.90
Havana Tan Through Bikini Top£14.95 £29.90
Havana Tan Through Bikini Top & Brief Set£28.45 £56.90
Havana Tan Through Cut Out Swimsuit£30.95 £61.90
Havana Tan Through Harem Pants£38.95 £77.90
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Tan Through swimwear is a unique advancement in swimwear technology. Designed to reduce tan lines and help you achieve an all over golden glow by allowing the suns tanning rays to pass through the patented Transol® fabric. Furthermore, Tan Through fabric dries 3X faster than normal swimwear, and allows your skin to breathe - keeping you cool and comfortable at all times.Find out more


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Cada día ofrecemos un programa licenciado GRATIS que de otra manera tendrías que comprar!
Esta oferta de regalo ha expirado. Star Rover - Stargazing and Night Sky Watching ya está disponible.
Do you love the starry night? Do you want to know everything in the sky? Star Rover is the fantastic planetarium for your iPhone and iPod touch. Just hold up your iPhone and Star Rover will tell you exactly what you are pointing at.
Star Rover determines your location automatically. You'll see the stars, moon, planets, constellations in their proper place from your current location. As you move your iPhone, the star map updates in real time.
Star Rover makes the virtual sky a gorgeous view. You can see star twinkling, beautiful nebulae, occasional meteor and even sunset glow in the evening.
Star Rover is very easy to use. You can simply change the sky view in settings and use pinch-to-zoom gesture for everything you want to know in the night sky.
- Over 120,000 stars.
- All 88 constellations with beautiful artworks.
- Planets and their moons with stunning graphics.
- Moon phases.
- Real images of nebulae (Messier catalogue).
- Sky objects information.
- Realistic Milky Way.
- Star twinkling.
- Equatorial and azimuthal grids.
- Realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset.
- Eclipse simulation.
- Sky view underneath the horizon.
- Time setting and animation.
- Manually location setting.
- Sky view sharing.
- Point and view (iPhone only, compass support required).
EEFan Inc.
iPhone, iPad, iPod touch


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Greater Boston
Convention & visitors Bureau
Award-winning Jasper White's Summer Shack specializes in seafood and New England style dishes perfect for locals and visitors. For a casual night out with terrific food, the Summer Shack offers the freshest seafood available, including White's famous pan-roasted lobster, hearty chowders, grilled fish, fried chicken, Boston's biggest raw bar, and even corn dogs for kids. Come try our traditional clambake! A fun atmosphere with a philosophy of "Food is Love".
Takeout Menu